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Loki’s OTHER Hot 100

From the cultural hallouminati that brought you the now liquidated Freight Books and long since defunct National Collective, comes another list of people so obscure that not even hipsters claim to have heard of them.

Today, the List Magazine, Scotland’s top lifestyle catalogue/advertising pamphlet, will experience an unusual spike in interest as self-absorbed artists all over the country scrawl through 10 pages of ads to see if they’ve been named as one of 100 notable fuds.

Tonight, the List will exacerbate it’s financial difficulties by throwing a big party for all the important functioning alcoholics in Scottish culture who will take a break from doing shit ching in Merchant City to make insincere small talk with people they neither know nor care about.
Culture, indeed.

To celebrate, I have decided to release an alternative Hot 100, naming some local people, artists and community organisations that don’t get anywhere near as much attention as they should. They are in no particular order and we can only speculate why nobody at The List has heard of many of them.

Scottish Grime in General — every young grime artist smashing it, you are doing us all proud.
PEEK in the Calton — Youth-led organisation
Fuse in Shettleston — Youth-led organisation
Sonnet Youth — Kevin Gilday and Cat Hepburn delivering regular poetry in an accessible fashion
Texture — services to wordsmithery
Steven Reynolds — Leith-based photographer and filmmaker
Werd — Scotland’s hardest working emcee and supporter of up and coming artists
Stacy Novelist — hard working female emcee and radio producer who has overcome a lot of adversity to make her mark on the community
Oddacity — A rapper who actually hates my guts, which is a shame because I have always thought he was really talented. One to watch.
Soundthief — producer, rapper volunteer
Southside Deluxe — quality hip hop record label
Cranhill Beacon — Under-funded Community Centre/library in one of Glasgow’s most deprived communities.
Colonel Mustard and the Djonn 5 — best band in Scotland
Karyn McCluskey — for her services to violence reduction in male-dominated world of community justice
Gal Gael Trust — supporting homeless, dispossessed and people in recovery
Sunny Govan Radio — serving Govan and Glasgow with music/content of local origin
Ema Jayne Park — smashing it constantly and recovering from illness
The State — Leith-based Community interest company specialising in Hip Hop
Tommy Slack and Derek Mackay — for their film A Weegie Abroad
The Racket — music tuition ran in Milton for underprivileged kids
Deadsoundz — Glasgow based hip hop crew
Sindigo — recently passed away, wonderful working class female poet
Mark McGhee — anybody worth talking about in Scottish music was put on by him years ago
Castlemilk Against Austerity — for their tireless community work
Conscious Route — Scotland’s most underappreciated hip hop artist
Govanhill Baths — going from strength to strength
Robert Fullertone — Govan-based philosopher, activist and poet
Young Brido — one of Scottish Hip Hop’s brightest young talents
Chaz Bonnar — international film-maker, B-Boy and Hip Hop documenter.
Leyla Josephine — poet and activist, smashed it at the Fringe
Michelle Fisher — gallus working class poet flying a feminist flag
Mog — if you don’t know Mog, you can’t claim to be cultured. Fuck off.
The Barn — The beating heart of Gorbals youth work for over 30 years
The One Church Café in the Gorbals — somewhere dry and warm for addicts to have tea
Victoria McNulty — Scotland’s most exciting poetic prospect
Josephine Sillars — Musical powerhouse in the making
Kelvinbridge and Anderson Church — from recovery groups to homeless shelter, this church does more than the council for
Glasgow’s pooor and vulnerable
Danny Kelly — Scotland’s most authentic rap artist
Jenny Robertson — Artist of incomparable class
Sam Small — Poet and curator of awesome
Black Lantern — Net Label
Gasp — Scotland’s best rapper
Cee Len — Poet, on her second book.
Chrissy Barnacle — probably the most interesting singer/songwriter to come out of Scotland since Karine Polwart
Angela Haggerty — Editor of Commonspace and emerging female voice, talking much sense, in sausage-fest news landscape
Andrew Mackenzie — for his artistic and personal growth, services to the art of battle rap and learning from his mistakes
Tom Leonard — for casting the long poetic shadow the rest of us are living in
Cocaine Anonymous — getting young people sober, year in year out
James Docherty — mentor working with young men
Plantation Productions — Govan-based community organisation that involves local people
Fail Better — Eclectic monthly night featuring radical artists
Govanhill Toy Library — Project that offers kids in poverty chance to pool and share toys and books
Steg G — Community leader, artist, local record label owner
Wee D — Rapper who deserves more acknowledgement
The Guy who picks up litter in Shawlands his wheelchair
The Poverty Truth Commission — now in its 10th year

Give us your suggestions for the unrecognised and under-valued for the alternative Hot 100 …

My culture’s better than their culture because class? What a festering pile of horseshit. From the man who’s funded by JK Rowling and Euan McColm to be their favourite useful idiot, a critique of a pointless list, at the head of which nonetheless are two women who crowdfunded an entire independent publisher.

This, Bella Caledonia, is the snivelling, sneering, divisive sort of baboon pish which keeps you from coming anywhere near being self-funded. Who the hell wants to read this bitter, self-pitying crap? A swipe at an imagined cultural overclass from somebody who writes for STV and the Scotsman? Are you bloody serious? Derision poured over the supposed obscurity of people engaged in cultural activity, as if this pedlar of pointlessness having heard of someone else’s work is somehow an arbiter of worth.

I’ve donated to you in the past. No more. Gloating over the death of a traditional publisher, no matter how dreadful most of their books were and citing a magazine’s financial difficulties, imagined or not, isn’t so much below the belt as beneath contempt. The people who have or may lose livelihoods aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, or even comfortable. Just working people trying to get by, without a billionaire’s largesse to fall back upon.

I have to say I enjoyed the spirit of Captain Anonymous’ comment, because yes, I don’t think there’s any gloating to be had about the collapse of Freight, and I hope the serious questions get asked, and someone is made accountable for that enormous waste. I didn’t feel Loki was high-horsing it, but at the same time BoredofThis is right to point out his mainstream platform, and the ‘imagined cultural overclass’.

The list is far from pointless though, and I would encourage anyone to fund Bella, especially if the site and its print counterparts are going to take a part in promoting the good news that many of Loki’s Hot Ton are creating. That means articles about Gal Gael, about MsMissMrs, about Plantation Productions, and all the similar enterprises that are constantly springing up. There 100s in Scotland!

Perhaps it is the case that ‘good news doesn’t sell’? There has to be a good reason why sites like this one don’t encourage and spread the message that is implicit in these grassroots, community led, and positive organisations.

Personally I would like to see more news articles about these social enterprises in Bella, as a reminder of all the good things that people (not celebs, politicians, business leaders, commentators etc, but people) are doing. So much of it came out of indy, and nobody ever covers it. With the possible exception of ‘Third Force News’.

“two women who crowdfunded an entire independent publisher” – crowdfunded and through receiving Creative Scotland funding … 404_ink are the new Freight, the darlings of the publishing establishment in Scotland. I await them winning the Saltire publisher of the year for their 2 magazines and a couple of short story collections…. then the real world of publishing will kick in. They market themselves as the punk “alternative” publishers and couln’t be more in with the establishment.

Damn, sorry Loki, I just saw that Mog was there, my apologies! I will learn to read more slowly in future ….

Still, it gives me a chance to shout out hacker collective Edinburgh Cryptoparty, Joseph Ridgwell, king of the literary underground, who has published countless books …. and the One O’Clock Gun, which is Scotland’s longest-running literary periodical.

I think it’s great that Darren is promoting community activists and other less well-known artists whose class background/concerns might mean they’re not on The List’s radar. The organisations and people named here are probably very grateful for this boost. But I could’ve done without the sour-grapes intro.

There are plenty of worthy artists on The List’s list, most of whom are probably also living on fresh air, are just trying to get good work made in testing circumstances, and are themselves not as well-known to the general public as they might be. Hey, some of them might even be from working-class backgrounds. But no, by dint of being chosen for The List’s Hot 100 they are, every one of them, ‘fuds’.

What would’ve been wrong with simply saying, ‘You’ve maybe seen The List’s List, now here’s mine, check them out,’ instead of attempting to traduce the reputations of 100 people who’re probably just pleased to get a bit of much-needed coverage in a media landscape that routinely sidelines Scottish culture?

And yet another dig at National Collective? Really? Come on, man, let it go.

For the record, I’ve read Darren’s new book and it really is excellent. Invaluable, in fact. I just wish he would get on with the business of promoting his considerable talents without feeling the need to tear down other Scottish artists who he feels are in his way.

Yeah its a fair point Alan – having a look through the Lists 100 there’s a shedload of great folk doing great stuff. What I think we’re going to do is use the list (with added public nominations then do profiles on everyone with links, photos and interviews when we have the time).

I’m working my way through the ones I don’t know however and I’ve got to Young Brido, and I’ve discovered some astounding stuff, and that includes Young Brido; who is ace btw. So this article is still a success.